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This year, the state Legislature aims to keep habitual lead foots out of highway construction zones and off the road entirely. Beginning on Jan. 10, two or more speeding tickets in a work zone will earn you a mandatory 60-day license suspension.
Work zone speeders aren't the only ones facing stiffer punishment under new traffic laws passed in 2005.
Albany lawmakers have also made it easier to convict drunk drivers of vehicular assault or vehicular manslaughter. Hit-and-run drivers face higher fines, too. The Legislature also authorized fee increases for a few Department of Motor Vehicles services.
Although these fee hikes continue a long established trend, they seem restrained compared with the so-called "driver responsibility assessment" levied last year and the steep hikes in fines, ticket taxes and other surcharges introduced in 2004. There's at least some indication that the Legislature has reached its limit on hiking driving-related expenses.
Here are the details you need to know about new changes in traffic laws.
Cracking down on speed in work zones. You'll want to pay particular attention to the posted speed limit in highway construction zones. Get caught exceeding it, and the state will slap you with a $50 surcharge in addition to your fine. The surcharge will fund a special public education program to promote safety in roadwork areas.
In addition to mandating a 60-day license suspension for two or more speeding violations within 18 months, the Work Zone Safety Act of 2005 also requires an active police presence and radar-activated speed displays in "all major active work zones." What constitutes a "major active work zone, "exactly? The law leaves that up to the state Department of Transportation.
The new law comes in response to an alarming increase in work-zone injuries and fatalities not only in New York but also around the nation. In this state, 467 crashes occurred in work zones in 2004, the last full year for which statistics are available. In one incident in the Binghamton area, three highway construction workers were killed by a speeding bus.
Getting tough with deadly drunks. Effective Nov. 1, 2005,"Vasean's Law" eliminates the need to show criminal negligence in prosecuting a drunk driver for vehicular assault or vehicular manslaughter after an accident results in an injury or fatality. The law takes its name from 11-year-old Vasean Alleyne, who was killed by a drunk driver in Queens in 2004.The driver escaped a felony charge in the case.
Increasing penalties for hit-skip. Also effective in November 2005, leaving the scene of an accident that results in personal injury became a Class A misdemeanor (punishable by a fine of $500 to $1,000). A second offense became a Class E felony, with a fine of $1,000 to $2,500.
Hiking DMV fees. The following services will now cost more: application for a certificate of title ($50,up from $10), title for mobile or manufactured home ($125, up from $25), duplicate certificate of title ($20, up from $10), records search ($10, up from $6) and a salvage vehicle exam ($150, up from $100).
Refining booster seat requirements. Last year, the Legislature voted to require all children ages 4,5 and 6 and under 4 feet 9 inches tall to ride in booster seats. This year, two new laws refine the booster seat requirement. One exempts 4-, 5- and 6-yearolds from riding in a booster seat if they are 4 feet 9 inches or taller or weigh more than 100 pounds. Another requires booster seats to be used with lap and shoulder belts, unless the vehicle has only lap belts. Both laws took effect in August.
Cleaning up windshields. You won't find car wash coupons, takeout menus or flyers from school board candidates stuck to your car anymore. Striking a blow against one of life's little annoyances, lawmakers prohibited attaching handbills and other advertisements to any part of a motor vehicle.
Outlawing "glare in a can. Have you seen all those Web sites offering spray-on license plate coatings? Supposedly, the high gloss stuff reflects the flash from a red-light or speed-trap camera, obscuring the numbers on film. Well, forget about it. As of Oct.1, 2005, the coatings became illegal in New York State.
Bringing "black boxes" into the open. According to legislation signed into law on Sept. 16, manufacturers must disclose the use of an event data recorder (EDR) on any vehicle sold or leased in the state. Commonly called "black boxes," EDRs capture and record vehicle speed, steering and braking inputs, and other data for several seconds immediately before a crash. Nearly all Ford and General Motors vehicles now come equipped with factory-installed EDRs, as do a substantial number of cars and trucks from other manufacturers.
The new law requires the black-box disclosure to appear in or along with the owner's manual. It also prohibits retrieval of EDR data except by consent of the owner, by court order, by safety researchers who "sanitize" the identity of the vehicle owner, or by authorized technicians servicing and repairing the vehicle.
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Provided by Automobile Club of New York |
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